SEVENTEEN | SOMETHING BITTER

"Do you need me to call someone?" Mr. Hale asks when we get to my house. I feel a little better now, my mind still aches and my bones feel like they're lead, but at least I don't want to curl up into a ball and cry anymore.

"No. My Mom should be calling me any second." I tell him, shutting the door behind me. He lowers the window, still looking worried.

"Be sure to get some rest, Scarlett." He tells me. "I'll have someone drop off your car in the morning."

"Thanks, Mr. Hale." I nod and wave. When his tail lights have faded, I go into the house. Again, the kitchen and hall lights are on. I sigh, shutting and locking the front door behind me as I catch Blue's - *Zane's* - scent. I ground the heel of my hands into my eyes and walk into the kitchen. "Maybe I should just make you a key if this is gonna be a thing." I pause in the doorway and lower my hands to look at Blue standing by the stove.

"That'd save us both some time." He smirks at me, but there's no humor in his eyes. No warmth. I drop my hands from my face and sit on the opposite counter - just like last time. Except this time he sets a steaming mug beside me instead of a bowl.

"Tea?" I raise an eyebrow at him. "I'm more of a coffee kina girl."

"I'm not giving you coffee after that vision." He frowns at me, taking his own mug from the counter behind him. "We need to calm down not wind up even more."

"Touché." I agree, pulling the rim of the mug to my nose an take an experimental sniff. "Not peppermint," I note with a grin. Blue wrinkles his nose at me over the top of his cup and swallows some of the red liquid.

"You wore enough of that stuff to make me hate the smell alone for all eternity." He states dryly.

"Ouch." I smirk and sip at the hot liquid. "Cinnamon?"

"Mhm. And apple." He smirks back at me, taking a longer sip. My face heats a bit as I remember that Caly compered my scent to a similar scent combination. I don't know if I should be offended or flattered. "C'mon, I'm not a fan of enclosed spaces." He nods for me to follow him out of the back door and to the back yard. He plops down gracefully, mug still in hand and waits for me to carefully take the spot on the grass beside him.

"So," I start, looking into the rosy liquid in my mug.

"Triggers, I guess, are what we should be focusing on," Blue murmurs, his breath coming out in a visible huff of hot air.

"Triggers?" I repeat, frowning. I take a drink from my tea, savoring the bite and sweetness of the stuff. It's actually pretty good - for tea.

"Yeah. Things we can link to the visions that maybe triggered them." He nods, tipping the rest of his mug back before setting it on the ground between us. I look at the empty mug, thinking back to that first time.

"Touching. Each time we were touching - and eye contact seems to play a role in it, too." Weird. I stare up at the darkening sky, frowning as the clouds seem to be getting heavier and heavier. Blue - *Zane* - nods slowly, jaw tensed and looking all sorts of pissed as he ruminates on that.

"No touching then. We can do that." He says, retracting his limbs as far from me as possible. I don't blame him. That last vision sucked. Stomaching the thing is nauseating enough - not to mention the waves of pain and other emotions that come with feeling everything. The confusion of it all is seriously messing with my head.

"Deal." I mumble, turning back to stare at the clouds. It looks like it's going to rain.

- - -

*"You need to get ahead of the visions, Wisty*." Mom tells me an hour later, after I've told her about what happened today.

"How would we 'get ahead' of them?" I groan, curling up in my bed, staring at the moon as it slowly treks across the sky.

"*Well, first off, by not avoiding them*."

"I don't know..." I sigh, wincing as I think about the intensifying lucidity of each vision. It's getting worse.

"*They're just visions, Wisty. They can't hurt you*."

"Yeah, but pain is in the mind." I grumble. "What if we go crazy from it one of these days?"

"*The future isn't set in stone, honey*." She reminds me. I feel like it's becoming her new mantra.

"So you keep saying - but I've yet to experience that." I reply dryly. That first vision hasn't happened yet - so it's like they're just nightmares for now, not reality.

*"Toughen up, kiddo. I'll talk to you tomorrow.*" She chuckles.

- - -

Grogginess clings to my mind as I go about my day the next morning. Echoes from the vision we had yesterday jar by up my spine with each step. From my tailbone to the base of my skull, little pinpricks dance up and down like fire ants. Blue doesn't look much better. His hair is more disheveled than usual, making the circles under his eyes more pronounced.

He barely even looks at me in the classes we have together, keeping that foot of distance between us at all times. It's not difficult, not touching. Not as bad as I was expecting. The previous tinging and aching have long since subsided. So long as I'm near him - not touching, but aware of his presence, the itchiness stays gone. Now I just have to deal with this... Or maybe one is masking the other?

I let myself fall into a zombie-like rhythm. Homeroom, Physics, Math, English. Lunch with Darine out by the bleachers. Though her mood seems as dark as mine today. She hardly talks, picking at her lunch and studying up for tonight's practice.

Then Latin, where Jin gives one of her oh so lovely pop-quizzes. My mind's like sludge for the next few periods.

- - -

After Choir practice, I drive Darine home again. She, like most other humans, lives in town. It's a simple house, clean-cut lawn and sturdy white-picket fence. The type of house I've always dreamed of. Normal.

"You're car's making that funny noise again." Darine pauses as she exits the passenger side.

"I'm pretty sure that's all in your head." I roll my eyes at her. She'd mentioned the sound when I first started the car, and only again now. You'd think that a Wolven like myself would hear such a noise. But I haven't so I chalk it up to human error.

"Seriously, Scarlett, you should have this old rust bucket inspected." Darine wrinkles her nose as she slams the door shut. I lower the passenger window.

"I think you're the one who needs to be inspected. I'll see you tomorrow." I wave at her and she passes me a one-fingered salute. I laugh as I drive away, back towards the outskirts to my little slice of peace. Ever since Caly's party, I've had the lingering scent of pine on me, so using sage and peppermint has become obsolete. For now. I'm not sure how long the masking effects will last, but it sure beats being repeatedly told I stink.

But as I park, I hear an odd clicking sound from the engine. When I shut off the car it comes again. I tilt my head over the hood, wait a god minute before the noise starts up again. I frown and do a quick search on my phone for a mechanic. This car isn't new, sure, but I've never heard it make this kind of sound before.

I'm able to book an appointment for next Tuesday to get the thing checked out. In the meantime, I don't have many places to go this week. Other than school. And my fridge is still partially stocked anyway. I make a mental note to check the engine in the morning before leaving, just to make sure there isn't any obvious problems like low oil. Not that I know much about vehicles aside from fixing a flat and checking the oil.

I silently pray it won't be a costly repair. After traveling here, I don't have much leeway in terms of spending cash. Mom's always kept me on a short leash that way and it's not like I can get a job right now. While I'm thinking about easy cash, I do another quick search for jobs anyway. I may not have many skills, but extra cash could be nice to have on hand just in case my visions come to pass and I need to make a run for it. In the end, I find a few listings in town and make a mental list of things to do while I'm in town next Tuesday.